There is no doubt from the available information that Snell was a spy. The Turkish media call her such. She was with Nusra, not for the first time, had some trouble and needed to get out. The U.S. military launched a huge operation to help her. That is not the treatment a real journalist would get.

Three weeks after our report some professional journalist finally picked up on the story and asked during the U.S. State Department briefing:

QUESTION: Do you have any information about a U.S. citizen who was arrested in Turkey?

MR KIRBY: Who was arrested in Turkey? Yes. I can confirm that U.S. citizen Lindsey Snell was detained in Turkey on the 7th of August, 2016. She is currently being held in a prison facility in Hatay Province. I believe that’s how you say it. Consular officers from the consulate in Adana visited Ms. Snell most recently on the 26th of this month and are providing all possible consular assistance. The embassy and the department are following this case closely. State Department officials have been in contact with Turkish Government officials regarding this case. ...QUESTION: [...] was the arrest at all related to her profession as a journalist or in any case – any way associated with that?

MR KIRBY: What I – what we understand is that she has been charged with violating a military zone, but I can’t speak to her reasons for being in Syria, for traveling there. I can’t speak to that. What I can tell you is that we’ve been informed she was charged with violating a military zone.

The State Department "can't speak of" what Snell did in Syria - twice. Why? Is that secret? Note that Kirby does not even call that "U.S. citizen" a "journalist", even while his keyword provider calls her such.

Despite the reluctance of the State Department to call Snell a journalist the main stream "western" media, picking up from the State briefing, now calls her such and does not mention that Snell is obviously a spy. The BBC, CBS and NBC have reports of the issue. But none of those reports touches on the very weird circumstance of Lindsey Snell's "rescue" and "arrest". None of them will tell you you that she was a spy.

NBC goes the furthest by digging up another State source and quoting the Hatay regional governor:

A State Department official said the U.S. government was aware of Snell's presence in Syria and that helping her to get to a safe location was the agency's consistent and overriding goal.

U.S. personnel were dispatched to the Turkey-Syria border to support Snell's safe exit from the war-ravaged country but Snell was subsequently detained by Turkish authorities, the official said. ... Hatay's governor, Ercan Topaca, told the state-run Anadolu Agency: "A U.S. journalist was captured while she was trying to cross the border illegally; she was taken to court and remanded. The trial phase is ongoing. For now, we do not know if she is a spy or not."

NBC just mentions that "U.S. personnel were dispatched". That sounds like a bureaucrat drove to the border to help the "journalist" to enter Turkey. But that "U.S. personnel" consisted of two armed drones and several military helicopters which flew in the area over several days while the exfiltration of Snell was ongoing. Has anyone ever heard of any journalist for whom the U.S. military would launch such an extensive operation? The Turkish media had made no secret of what happened. As Hurriyet reported on August 7:

A female intelligence agent from the United States has been saved by Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) soldiers after a two-day operation on the Syrian border, according to a report. Drones and helicopters participated in the operation to save the agent, who had been wounded in Syria.

Two U.S. helicopters landed in a village in the Yayladağı district of the southern province of Hatay on Aug. 5, prompting locals to call officials and report the landing.

Is there any real freelance "journalist" who embeds with Jabhat ql-Nusra and for whom the U.S. would "dispatch U.S. personnel" in the form of helicopters and Hellfire armed drones? No. It is obvious that there was some very "special interest" for Snell and unlike the usual "western" media Hurriyet has no problem reporting that:

[T]he U.S. agent, whose name was not revealed as she was on a confidential operation, was assigned to a task in Syria and wounded on Aug. 3, after which she called for evacuation. She reportedly sent her coordinates to U.S. officials, allowing them to determine her exact location. ... Two U.S. drones scanned the area for two days, as two U.S. helicopters were on standby on the Turkish side of the border.

Snell was picked up by Turkish agents and arrested for crossing the border unauthorized. The Turkish intelligence service MIT will dislike any U.S. spy who tries to get involved with one of its bests assets in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra aka al-Qaeda.

The Turks want to keep Nusra under their own control. Even after making nice with Russia Turkey continues its nefarious relations with the UN designated terrorists. According to the Russian military Turkey is up to today supplying Nusra in Idleb and Aleppo:

"We see that the opposition in general and Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham in particular keep receiving enforcements through the Syrian-Turkish border [...]" Rogachev told RIA Novosti.

The mainstream "western" media must be intentionally holding back on the case of agent Lindsey Snell. None of them mentions the use of U.S. helicopters and drones with regards to the "journalist". The governor of Hatay had confirmed their extensive use. Isn't such a use of military assets extraordinary? The facts about the "rescue" are openly available and have been reported by serious Turkish media.Why leave them out? Why let the cover-up stand?

I would have expected more inquisitiveness and concern from CBS, NBC and from the BBC about the "journalist" cover the CIA uses for this agent.

There is an official ban on the CIA use of "journalist" cover for foreign operations since 1977. There are of course exceptions and whoever expects the CIA to stick to regulations or laws needs some lessons in reality perception. Still, any such use by the CIA makes the life of real journalist more difficult and more dangerous.

One would expect of serious media and real journalists to point that out, to raise some public hell with the CIA and to generally show more concern about the issue.

thanks b.. when i read the info on the women, that is what i immediately thought.. thanks for the confirmation...

"The Turkish intelligence service MIT will dislike any U.S. spy who tries to get involved with one of its bests assets in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra aka al-Qaeda." i am sure they will..

"The Turks want to keep Nusra under their own control. Even after making nice with Russia Turkey continues its nefarious relations with the UN designated terrorists." we all wonder how long the charade can go on for? certainly the bozo kirby isn't going to speak candidly about anything..

Erdogan may have be successful in his 'cunning' games with weak and divided Europe but in all the blackmailing games he played with the USA or Russia he ended up been the looser. Erdogan has never been in a weaker position than he is now. After the nationalistic unity that followed the coup, the political cracks are showing inside Turkey.
Erdogan can yell at the USA and curse Gulen as he did for Bashar al Assad, I doubt he will ever see Gulen in Turkey! Like many of his wishes that fell through, that one will too. Erdogan is steadily going downhill.

compare her treatment to that of james foley. they not only refused ransom but didn't send so much as an amazon drone to help him (assuming that the accepted narrative of his death is true.)

i've never heard of her but her twitter says she's worked with many MSM outlets and is supposedly muslim (like that makes sending a woman to work with AQ any less stupid). her twitter says al-nusra "held her captive" but she was "really not sure why they kept letting me have my phone." again, not the traditonal treatment meted out to captives.

While all journalists are not spies, all journalists are assets. The brainwashed corporate stools are what support the myths of the empire.

I find it blatantly humorous that so much space can be used resolving an 'issue' such as this. Now it is true that exposing double-dealing and hypocrisy is a worthy project, but is something like this truly worth the effort? It happens all the time.

CIA's already traded away their real asset, the "Gulen network". Whet they got for it remains to be seen, Gulen himself is of purely symbolic value and will probably remain in the US to help maintain the illusion that there is some sort of Turkish "cunning" independence.

Any country has to make some effort in getting their people out or else recruitment gets bogged down. You know you're expendable but a certain amount of torque is expected.

The whole fucking place is a bed of spies. I'm amazed they can even can keep track of them. I wonder if ol' John Le Carre has one more book left in him. One about the Syrian schmozzle would be a pisscutter.

US and NATO need Incirlik Air Base. NATO's largest nuclear weapon’s storage facility, hold about fifty B-61 hydrogen bombs - more than 25% of the nuclear weapons in the NATO stockpile.

Erdogan hold EU by the balls on refugees (embedded ISIS’s headchoppers) to EU. Even GrandChessMaster Putin concedes after downing of Russian plane SU-24 by Turkey for Turkey's stream after abandoning South Stream via Bulgaria and finally continues Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkey. Breaking News - may change with Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan sudden death without an apparent heir.

Obomo will do anything even kiss and suck Erdogan’s ass and balls. Wait and see Erdogan next moves... checkmate?

Virgile, wouldn't Snell be of more value to Ankara as a source of information about the CIA's designs on Turkey and Syria, and what it was planning to do with al Nusra, rather than as a bargaining chip?

B: Has anyone ever heard of any journalist for whom the U.S. military would launch such an extensive operation?

A: Only one at the moment, but the Ecuadorian Embassy is still looking too rock for an extraction. A good few whistleblowers they'd go after I'd say, buzzing passenger planes to land and be searched etc. Of course, whistleblowers are both an extremist and journalist in this age, causing funny stuff like McCarthyist witch-hunts, though not against a well defined adversary and ideology, a more sinister war waged against all information.

But no, any friendly journalist would be left for the pirates and scavengers.

Erdogan has been going from strength to strength in a high risk game. At the moment Erdo has the US by their NATO balls so they will be extremely pissed at him. I guess it is becoming riskier now for Erdogan, as the US will turn its full attention to getting rid of him.
Sit back and watch the great game. See how it plays out.

The Turks want to keep Nusra under their own control. Even after making nice with Russia Turkey continues its nefarious relations with the UN designated terrorists. According to the Russian military Turkey is up to today supplying Nusra in Idleb and Aleppo:

"We see that the opposition in general and Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham in particular keep receiving enforcements through the Syrian-Turkish border [...]" Rogachev told RIA Novosti.

1. Russia has been, is being, will be endlessly double-crossed by Turkey.

2. I, too, have trouble understanding why the CIA would send a female agent to spy on al-CIAduh.

Perhaps she's a banshee herself? Don't forget the 'CIA' in al-CIAduh. Al Nusra under Turkish control? Maybe the fact that al-CIAduh 'let her' keep her phone is the tell? Maybe the CIA was trying to get her home safe and sound ... from the Turks, not from al-CIAduh. Together with al Nusra, she was born and bred in the briarpatch. Erdogan finally convinced the CIA that he'd dutifully hand her over when she got to Turkey ... then grabbed her?

The US has been, is being, will be endlessly double-crossed by Turkey.

My guess is that Erdogan will be where the twain shall finally meet ... to eliminate Erdogan.

Well, at least we don't hear reports of torture and dark sites. But maybe we're making too much of this, she landed in Erdo's lap as an opportunity and now all sides have to calculate the next step. She does appear to be a good piece of real estate, from all the fuss. But I would distinguish journos who have reportable contacts vs. media goons who can do little more than makeup and parrot.

On the 'impersonating journalists' ... the CIA impersonated health personnel in Pakistan. The CIA are criminals with allegiance to know one ... they view all others besides themselves as disposable ... and each one of them who's been around long enough to have seen colleagues disposed of knows that he or she, too, is disposable. The CIA is the definition of nihilism, of the Wall Street war of all against all.

north korean endless posturing ? everyone know NK wont start any war without china on board.. who cares about NK's nuke capability ? they wont use it for first strike no matter how crazy they depicted in MSM.. It is a deterrent , a truly MAD concept in action..

If the US so foolishly try to engage Norks , Seoul will disappear from massive artilery ruin , with the final result of the end of South Korea as industrial giant.. China would prefer to have south korea as a balance to japan resurgent militarism instead, and will hold Norks as the Joker card to upset balance of power in the region..

The future of North Korea should be joining with south korea and formed a united Koryo Nation.. now that would really upset the japanese and the chinese at the same time.

"Russia has been, is being, will be endlessly double-crossed by Turkey."

you forgot Iran , both iran and russia are stupid then ? getting double crossed by turks ? and you also forgot the 2 actors in the area, Saudi/gulfie and Israel.. ya think they dont have anything to do with the coup ? ya think the coup is manufactured by erdogan to fool russian and iranian ?

this is what i call kiddie level comment , totally disregarding how sovereign nations act with each other according to their interest and dismissing the capability of nation's intelligence capability to determine treachery..

is it possible for the turkish govt to roll back their agreement and turn back toward the west ? of course , thats why the coup was initiated , to remove erdogan by sending assasination squad.. it is a very small surgical military ops designed to cut off erdogan and install pro west leader.. thats why erdogan execute his cleansing order removing all gulenist from govt positions.. the list already been compiled before hand.. it is not a last minute list..

those comments who continue to spout leader's name instead of nation's name are trapped in the personality game, visualizing putin or erdogan or xi or assad sitting on a chair facing multiple monitors and controlling their minions like james bond villain.. too much movie ruin your brain's ability to analyze

seems like these people got their daily briefing documents on how to post about erdogan on social media sphere , all the same briefing document from their DOD masters : inject the narrative that coup is fake, inject the narrative that erdogan is trying to trick russia / iran, inject the narrative that US really support Turkish incursion against Kurds with air support (basically a face saving lie)

some EU bigwig recently said turkey wont get into EU with erdogan at helm..

Russia and Iran are not stupid. They are engaging the nation, Turkey, as you point out, and not the man Erdogan. But Erdogan is now running Turkey, has solidified his position after the coup. Erdogan seems to me clearly to be playing the Atlanticists off against the EurAsians. He does not care about consistency ... it is the hobgoblin of little minds, as they say ... he will always claim to the one that the devil, the other, made him do it with regard to his most recent betrayal. He is simply unreliable in my view. The Russians and Iranians and even the Americans know this full well. Only we armchair geopoliticians take Erdogan's proclamations at face value, see him as having 'seen the light', as having become a EurAsianist. He seems an Erdoganist, through and through. Maybe I'm wrong.

MadMax2 @ 23: The Swedes have agreed to interview the fellow at the Ecuadorian Embassy. The US might find supplying them with a weapon or poison more expedient than trying to extricate him and fly him to a secret location to be tried.

I checked out this story in the msm just now (abc,nbc, bbc and usa today). Not a single story mentions Lindsey being wounded. Nor did they mention any role of US military helicopters rescuing her from inside Syria. The story is now that she walked across the border and was arrested for illegal entry. Somehow I recall in early August the official msn story was different.

@33
I think the coup was made by the CIA to destabilize Turkey (to sow discord among people). The US and Israel are working hard to create an independent Kurdistan so Turkey must be destabilized like Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan or Yugoslavia in 1990s.

be careful attributing everything to CIA , because CIA is the publicly known intelligence agency from america and theres more agencies that even their names are confidential. You can see them in action by the trail of crumbs.. the black budget is more than enough to support such entities and they can also gain funding from illegal activities like drug trade..

i hope the western people are not naive enough to think there are no assasination squad killing their own countrymen because their law protect them..

btw isnt it nice of the MSM not mentioning Saudi and Israeli involvement in the coup ?

Merkel very cleverly gave Davutoglu and Erdogan headlines to play at home to the domestic audience, but the onus qlwas always on Turkey to meet certain criteria which it did not do. Hence yhe ongoing bile being projectrs by Ersogan to EU re. visa regime.
Some money has startef going through, but nothing significant because Turkey isndoing nothing.
So, in what way was Erdogan successful against Europe?

@19 Posted by: annie | Sep 2, 2016 5:56:25 PM | 19
It's interesting how they use transparency of ownership as a theatre curtain for intent. "Oh why would we be working for intel agencies," our names are here in the public, we're just trying to inform people. - This tack is easier to take when you're on the side of the big powers, flowing downriver, "ah of course, he isn't deceiving me, the spy wouldn't use his real name."

@26 telescope. No. You could say, how many consular officials are spies, how many diplomats, but journalist spy is the marginal journalist greasing around the edges. From my small interactions with the world of big journalists, they're simpletons who buy the dominant ideology and are just happy to do stenography for spooks. Not spooks themselves. Only spooky is the way they look naked. Michael Weiss is probably cooking a baby for breakfast as we speak, though

Any guesses on her purpose north of Latakia? She seems to have been in a sweet spot to handwrite some notes as to the distribution of heavy weapons to the guys trying to reignite fighting in Latakia as SAA was attacking Aleppo.

This story is so strange. She goes to the most dangerous place in the world for women to film, escaped the al Nusra boys (no longer al Qaeda), and the Turks arrests her for crossing the border. (but their borders are open to refugees?)https://cpj.org/2016/09/freelance-journalist-lindsey-snell-detained-in-tur.php
According to this, the Turks are clamping down on journalists. But wait a minute, the husband comes to the "rescue" and the Turks arrest him. They say he was destroying evidence in the apartment and that he had $1 bills which indicate support for the Gulen-backed coup attempt.

I frankly love it. It describes our (DuhMerican) foreign policy in one short essay. The article points out a reality ... it blames Old-Bomb-Er, but the reality is that this is more than likely not the first time the CIA and the Pentagon have fought each other via surrogates. The reality is: Who Cares? War and destruction of a country is the goal. So working to fight elements of any source is thought of as a good. As long as the fighting continues, the US is happy.

Apparently she didn’t watch Midnight Express before screwing with the Turks.

Here are some clips from the BBC take on this

The Florida native recently posted on Facebook that she was kidnapped in July by Jabhat al Nusra, formerly al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, and had escaped.

She also has worked as a freelancer for Vocativ, but has not worked with them in months, a Vocativ spokeswoman told the BBC.

Ms Snell also attended University of Florida and Fordham University's School of Law, according to her social media profiles.

Ms Snell said in her most recent Facebook post on 5 August that she was held in a cave prison by militants even though she was given permission to film in their territory in Syria.

Ms Snell, who identified herself as Muslim, said she had been staying with the family of one of the militant group's recent martyrs when she was "arrested."

"Because of my unique situation, I was able to convince my captors to give me the use of a phone...which ultimately let me plan my escape, but which also let me document much of my captivity in photos and video"

Yeah, right. She’s an American Ana Chapman flying under the radar in her burka and redneck American accent. Like, the CIA is going to recruit a dimwit Florida woman to penetrate al-Nusra. That’s about as likely as Madeleine Albright winning one of Trump’s beauty pageants.

Check and mate? If he is still alive... The whole Turkey's future is now relying on one man. If he goes, Turkey will reduced to an impotent mess. That's why Erdogan is the favorite target of many groups who want to neutralize Turkey.
Erdogan was able to escape once from his own people. I doubt he will be able to escape a second time. The clock is ticking for him...

Never exposing a single play by key player Israel, indicates that Assange is a limited hangout.
Posted by: fast freddy | Sep 3, 2016 8:26:44 AM | 46

Doubtful...
Especially so considering how livid TPTB are about the Top Secret Stuff he's already put in the public domain, and the fate of Bradley/ Chelsea Manning. It's more likely that he's saving the "Israeli" leaks until they form a coherent narrative which, finally, will blow them and their fakery out of the water.
In the interim, the raw data would make a handy Dead Man's Letter, and attract a lot of attention.

This journo makes for a very sympathetic figure in the West. Yet there is still no demonization of Erdogan? No attempt to portray him as Putin's stooge? Even after Incirlik surrounded! Erdogan visits Putin! Biden snubbed!

It's even worse if she is a spy as this 'treatment' is just going to anger US/CIA/etc. Why would Erdogan taunt the Eagle when poking the bear turned out so poorly? Isn't it smarter for him to just consolidate power after the "gift from God" coup? And, in the Kurds he's already got his foreign enemy.

Is Putin using Turkey as a blunt instrument to embarrass US/Obama/Assa must go!? My perception has been that Putin wants to keep a lid on conflict with US/West. SCO needs time to grow and strengthen. In that regard he seems to agree with Pepe Escobar that The New Silk Road is a winning hand over time.

And if Erdogan is so pissed off, why hasn't he expelled US diplomats or taken other such direct action? The stress in US-Turk relations has only been shown indirectly and in unverifiable or stage events. Even what we know of this arrest us a US journo comes from government sources, right?

Want to invisibly spy on 10 iPhone owners without their knowledge? Gather their every keystroke, sound, message and location? That will cost you $650,000, plus a $500,000 setup fee with an Israeli outfit called the NSO Group. You can spy on more people if you would like — just check out the company’s price list.

@ 41 AtaBrit... i didn't say much in my post @8 other then i mostly agreed with virgile.. as for erdogan and success - i don't believe virgile was talking about the refugee issue, just making a statement that in all the games that erdogan has played, while his hand appears stronger in turkey at present, it appears very weak on many other levels.. as for the european refugee issue - to me it is a byproduct of the regime change ideology thanks the usa and their vassals in europe who go along with it.. in this regard - europe suffers.. for me erdogan is on shaky ground on a wide number of levels and it has only increased.. that is essentially what i am in agreement with virgile on.

assad already has blood on his hand and i hope rupurt murdoch owner of the times will sue syria in new york for the death of maria colvin.
maria colvin's family need rupurts help to follow through on a billion dollar lawsuit.

lindsey snells story is worthy of a hollywood movie in the vain of zero dark thirty,schindlers list and the amazing ben afflect masterpiece argo.
cathrine bigelow,ben or matt damon starring angelina jolie even paul greengrass from bourne directing he did sterling work with flight 93.

journalism needs to be nourished watered and fed we have never been so blessed with great men and woman working today.
this is a story of triumph against the odds like a great story from the talmud or torah.
ms snell was doing her job reporting on the war crimes of assad and his henchmen do not besmirch her by falling for the russian iranian lies.

she may through third parties had taken money from various agencies and from the soros foundation,chatham house and brookings.
she may have had connections with the chabad and other jewish organs but that is the nature of freelance.
you take funding from everyone to get the job done.
truth and information is a 24 and 7 job do not shoot the messenger the bringer of tales of horror and terror.
she speaks writes and puts herself in harms way providing us with memes to work with.
we are cowards like the lady in zero dark thirty and arnold schnidler in schindlers lists like anne frank child writing her novel
truth will out
it has to

Never exposing a single play by key player Israel, indicates that Assange is a limited hangout.
Posted by: fast freddy | Sep 3, 2016 8:26:44 AM | 46

assange has not released any goods on israel because he has none israel is the only democracy in the region and have taken a page out of the english book.
common decency,rule of law and fair play.
we may not like marmite as yeast id for the goy we may not like cricket but like the english we are gentlemen
and woman of course.

asange is a known anti semite if he had the goods he would of spilled them by now.
i am sure it has been a shock for julien finding literally nothing in the israeli closet.
we should be thankful that in his desperation he has not made stuff up.

Even that prim magazine of liberal uprightness, The Nation, managed to cough up a little hit piece against Julian Assange. Ivory-handed puritans holding hands with scum. They are so worried that Hillary's bloody career will come undone, and her unholy aspirations will be dragged out for all to see. All her indebtedness to the monstrous apartheid regime will be revealed, at last, in the light of day. The spirit of every person she and her depraved husband have ever had silenced, along with the nations driven into misery, will sigh with relief, when this human grotesque is finally driven out of public life.

The jailing of the American “journalist” in Turkey is an indication of an estrangement between NATO and Turkey. The March on Raqqa is halted. The USA has no allies on the ground in Syria other than those they’ve bought now that they turned their backs on the Kurds. This is a total FUBAR except for mercenaries, war profiteers and Israel. Turkey has created their safe zone in Northern Syria. They now face all hazards of foreign occupiers plus the difficulty of trying to pacify the Kurds. The Caliphate survives. The Jihadists can only be defeated if the West allies with Russia and China. The World War continues with no end in sight. Peace is a distant memory.

Erdogan is in service to himself; and what may be said of the whole spectacle of his diplomatic slipperiness, is that it facilitates, and makes solid his drive for absolute power. He advances by disposing of Kurdish representation in Parliament, by making himself a leader of the military, by bringing European leaders to heel as the result of their own perfidy, and punishing them for rejecting Turkish membership in Europe, --which he can claim is for "cultural reasons". Political purges, public hysteria, war fever, fear of terrorists and sectarian shadows, and maneuver and intrigue and deception, --plus the tools of extortion and blackmail, --which are made more effective by international, overlapping nets of criminal enterprise: Erdogan knows the game well.

One may wonder at this man's daring as he rides the tiger; but one should not underestimate him by thinking that he represents petty ambition, or that his reach or his imagination is limited to Turkey alone. As event follows event, we don't yet fully comprehend what is being unleashed.

The Silk Road sounds promising. I have nothing against globalization persay. At this point "globalization seems to be toward the corporation and not the person. Multinationals have free range yet the localized individual does not have the same opportunity.

Way off topic. Obama is snubbed on arrival in China. In the world of diplomacy this is major. Not sure what message China is trying to convey but without doubt they have conveyed a major statement. My guess is that they realize Obama is a lame duck. The message is targeted towards Hillary. I think the Chinese are telling the US power structure that they are pissed off and expecting bettor behavior from the US in the further. It also signifies that China is ready to confront the US Navy in the South China Seas whoever the next president might be.

@ 71
I posted that link a few weeks ago and james has obviously got something from it. It may be a "blatant propaganda rag" but that does not mean everything it publishes is garbage. For example, the Guardian published articles by Seamus Milne (before he moved to work for Jeremy Corbyn) which were the completely opposite of the Guardian line on Ukraine and Syria. That is not to equate Milne with the writer of the article linked to, far from it. Websites such as this one sometimes suffer from a lack of research by commenters. We expect b. to come round and give us our evening supper of information and we lazily bat known facts around in different combinations as we sit around with our virtual port and cigars.

And with the editorial voice of so many content mills able to be described as 'schizophrenic' or 'we'll publish literally anything if we can make a clickbait headline' there a possibility for information to be found everywhere. Even the official state outlets let the truth slip or invert it in a quite obvious way, if you pay enough attention.